Method, system, and apparatus for delivering product
AssigneeVertique, Inc.
InventorsFrederick John Stingel III, Jeffrey W. Stingel, James N. Smith, Angela I. Robertson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of providing products to customers can include identifying order attributes from received orders for cases and identifying case attributes from inventory management data for cases specified in the orders. Cases can be associated with a pallet using the order attributes and the case attributes. For each case associated with the pallet, the case can be assigned a location within the pallet.
Claims80
A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
- identifying order attributes from received orders for cases;
- identifying case attributes from inventory management data for cases specified in said orders;
- associating cases with a pallet using said order attributes and said case attributes;
- and
- for each case associated with said pallet, assigning said case a location within said pallet.
A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
- determining an arrangement of cases for building a pallet using a pallet configuration processor with reference to identified case attributes and order attributes, wherein said arrangement of cases specifies a location for each case within said pallet;
- storing cases in a case storage system;
- releasing cases to a case transport system as specified by said arrangement of cases;
- transporting said cases using said case transport system from said case storage system to a palletizing system as specified by said arrangement of cases;
- and
- building at least one pallet using said palletizing system as specified by said arrangement of cases.
A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
- retrieving inventory data specifying cases available for delivery to customers and case dimensions;
- assigning a pallet to a delivery vehicle bay and identifying delivery vehicle bay dimensions;
- determining an arrangement of cases forming at least one full layer of at least one case type for said pallet;
- computing an available volume for adding a top layer of cases to said pallet according to said delivery vehicle bay dimensions and said case dimensions of cases within said at least one full layer;
- and
- determining an arrangement of cases for a top layer for said pallet one case at a time such that a volume of said top layer does not exceed said available volume.
A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
- retrieving inventory data specifying cases available for delivery to customers and case dimensions;
- retrieving a plurality of orders, wherein each order specifies at least one case to be delivered to a customer and an associated delivery route;
- associating each customer order with one of said delivery routes;
- and
- assigning delivery vehicles to said delivery routes according to said cases to be delivered to customers on each said delivery route as determined from said orders and said case dimensions.
A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
- receiving an order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer;
- receiving inventory data from an inventory management system;
- processing said inventory data to determine whether sufficient inventory is available for fulfilling said customer order;
- notifying a user that at least one of said ordered cases is unavailable;
- and
- prompting the user whether to proceed despite the at least one unavailable case.
A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
- receiving at least one order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer;
- receiving inventory data specifying case dimensions and weights of said cases;
- and
- determining an arrangement of said cases to be delivered on a pallet, wherein heavier ones of said cases are assigned to locations lower in said pallet than lighter ones of said cases.
A method of providing cases of products to customers comprising:
- receiving at least one order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer;
- receiving inventory data specifying case dimensions and weight bearing capacity of said cases;
- and
- determining an arrangement of said cases to be placed on a pallet, wherein cases capable of bearing more weight than other ones of said cases are assigned to lower locations within said pallet.
A system for organizing cases of products for delivery to customers comprising:
- a pallet configuration processor configured to assign cases to locations within at least one pallet according to a type of cases ordered by customers, a number of cases ordered by customers, and dimensions of cases ordered by customers;
- a case storage system configured to store said cases and release said cases according to said assigned locations of cases within said pallets;
- a palletizing system configured to add selected ones of said cases to a pallet under construction according to said assigned case locations;
- and
- a case transport system configured to deliver said cases from said case storage system to said palletizing system.
A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
- identifying order attributes from received orders for cases;
- identifying case attributes from inventory management data for cases specified in said orders;
- associating cases with a pallet using said order attributes and said case attributes;
- and
- for each case associated with said pallet, assigning said case a location within said pallet.
A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
- determining an arrangement of cases for building a pallet using a pallet configuration processor with reference to identified case attributes and order attributes, wherein said arrangement of cases specifies a location of each case within said pallet;
- storing cases in a case storage system;
- releasing cases to a case transport system as specified by said arrangement of cases;
- transporting said cases using said case transport system from said case storage system to a palletizing system as specified by said arrangement of cases;
- and
- building at least one pallet using said palletizing system as specified by said arrangement of cases.
A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
- retrieving inventory data specifying cases available for delivery to customers and case dimensions;
- assigning a pallet to a delivery vehicle bay and identifying delivery vehicle bay dimensions;
- determining an arrangement of cases forming at least one full layer of at least one case type for said pallet;
- computing an available volume for adding a top layer of cases to said pallet according to said delivery vehicle bay dimensions and said case dimensions of cases within said at least one full layer;
- and
- determining an arrangement of cases for a top layer for said pallet one case at a time such that a volume of said top layer does not exceed said available volume.
A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
- retrieving inventory data specifying cases available for delivery to customers and case dimensions;
- retrieving a plurality of orders, wherein each order specifies at least one case to be delivered to a customer and an associated delivery route;
- associating each customer order with one of said delivery routes;
- and
- assigning delivery vehicles to said delivery routes according to said cases to be delivered to customers on each said delivery route as determined from said orders and said case dimensions.
A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
- receiving an order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer;
- receiving inventory data from an inventory management system;
- processing said inventory data to determine whether sufficient inventory is available for fulfilling said customer order;
- notifying a user that at least one of said ordered cases is unavailable;
- and
- prompting the user whether to proceed despite the at least one unavailable case.
A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
- receiving at least one order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer;
- receiving inventory data specifying case dimensions and weights of said cases;
- and
- determining an arrangement of said cases to be delivered on a pallet, wherein heavier ones of said cases are assigned to locations lower in said pallet than lighter ones of said cases.
A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
- receiving at least one order specifying cases to be delivered to a customer;
- receiving inventory data specifying case dimensions and weight bearing capacity of said cases;
- and
- determining an arrangement of said cases to be placed on a pallet, wherein cases capable of bearing more weight than other ones of said cases are assigned to lower locations within said pallet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.